Health authorities won't reveal number of emergency waiting room deaths

Health authority officials in New Brunswick say they will not release data on how many patients die while waiting to get emergency care in hospitals the very issue that prompted Premier Blaine Higgs to make sweeping changes to the system's leadership in July.

The heads of the two provincial authorities told reporters Wednesday that the numbers aren't very useful and could alarm people.

Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson said by definition, many people who show up at the ER are seriously ill or injured and will inevitably die.

"The reason that these numbers are not made public is that unfortunately we have deaths that cannot be avoided within the emergency department," she said.

WATCH | Some ER deaths are 'unavoidable,' says Horizon:

Horizon won't say how many people die waiting for care in ER

2 years ago

Duration 1:05

Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson says network is working hard to reduce ER wait times for the seriously ill, but some deaths are unavoidable.

"We do not want to alarm our public and give the impression that every patient who comes to our emergency department will always live. Emergency departments do see deaths and almost all of these deaths are unfortunately unavoidable."

Vitalit CEO Dr. France Desrosiers said the deaths of people in waiting rooms before they are assessed or admitted to emergency are "extremely rare" so the numbers would be of little value.

"To keep statistics on something exceptional isn't necessarily useful to us," she said.

The death of a man in the emergency department waiting room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton in July led Higgs to shuffle his health minister, fire Horizon's CEO and replace the two authority boards with appointed trustees.

Higgs said at the time he was "appalled" by the death.

"I have no doubt that every New Brunswicker is saddened and concerned by this story. We all want to know that if we go to the hospital we will receive help we need."

Last week, Vitalit confirmed the death of a man waiting for emergency care at the Edmundston Regional Hospital but said "no cause-and-effect relationship" was established between the long wait times at the time and the death.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch said at the time that "the level of acuity" meaning the seriousness of their health problem was "very, very high" for many patients going to emergency departments.

"Some of the outcomes are unavoidable," he said.

He said he would try to get a breakdown of the numbers between deaths in the waiting room and in the emergency department itself.

Waiting-room deaths not separated from data

On Wednesday after the health authorities news conference, Fitch seemed surprised that those figures were not available.

"I was under the understanding the information was sent out and it was making that distinction. I'd have to ask them why that distinction can't be made," he said.

"It could be just for confidentiality reasons, or the distinction between that waiting room, or triage room, or getting treatment there's a whole difference between that patient flow which may cause some calculation difficulties."

The department released emergency deaths last week but the figures did not separate waiting-room deaths.

Horizon's numbers showed 287 ER deaths in 2021 and 174 this year as of Aug. 19. Vitalit provided only deaths per 1,000 visits in each of its hospitals.

Vitalit's largest hospital, the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, had a rate of 1.04 deaths per thousand visits in 2021 and had reached 1.79 deaths per thousand visits this year as of August.

8 of 35 goals inplanachieved

The health authority CEOs made their comments during what was touted as "an update on the progress made" on the province's health plan.

But Horizon trustee Suzanne Johnston said at the news conference that initiatives underway as part of that plan was the subject of a report Tuesday from the New Brunswick Health Council.

That report said of 35 goals, eight had been achieved, 23 were in progress and four were not underway. Among the unmet goals were all five in the area of improving access to primary care.

"It is slower than we expected in some areas," Johnston said Wednesday. "However, it's faster than we ever had. So I would suggest that engine is starting to churn."

Horizon said at the news conference it had hired 1,134 nursing staff since April, but did not reveal until reporters asked that 618 had retired or quit in the same period for a net gain of 516.